Increase in durable goods orders points to economic growth

The U.S. Commerce Department stated that durable goods orders rose by 3.5 percent in November, with increased demand for a wide range of products, including electronic goods, computers, aircraft and machinery.

The U.S. economy is still going strong, as manufacturing industries are seeing positive development. This is reflected in the number of orders for long-lasting goods across various sectors in November, as recorded by the Commerce Department, Reuters reported.

Moreover, the level of projected business spending on capital goods saw the most dramatic increase in almost a year, which is another indicator of growth in the domestic economy, the news source added.

The U.S. Commerce Department stated that durable goods orders rose by 3.5 percent in November, with increased demand for a wide range of products, including electronic goods, computers, aircraft and machinery. This is stronger than the predicted growth of two percent and completely offsets October's slight dip of 0.7 percent. If transportation sector orders are excluded, the increase adds up to 1.2 percent — the biggest since May 2012.

In addition, the level of non-defense capital goods orders, with the aircraft industry excluded, went up by 4.5 percent following two consecutive months of downward movement. That was the steepest growth since the start of 2012, Thomson Reuters pointed out.

Growing orders across many manufacturing sectors is in line with other data that shows economic growth, including industrial production. Transportation is also experiencing a solid increase, with orders rising by 8.4 percent in November following a drop of 3.5 percent in October. The biggest rise was recorded in civilian aircraft orders, which surged 21.8 percent, data showed.